Underground building



Jan. 4, 1966 J. H. SWAYZE 3,227,061

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United States Patent 3,227,061 UNDERGROUND BUILDING Julian H. Swayze, P0. Box 347, Plainview, Tex. Fiied May 13, 1963, Ser. No. 279,872 1 Claim. (Cl. 98-1) This invention relates to habitations and more particularly to underground living quarters for the atomic age.

In recent years underground shelter has been proposed for protection against atomic fall-out. Most generally this proposed shelter is in the nature of emergency shelter to which people would go after an attack and hope to find there supplies, water, food, etc. Obviously they would expect to spend a certain amount of time (from five to 40 days) in the shelter.

This invention provides a shelter whereby the family lives underground at all times. Therefore, they constantly know that there will be comfortable beds, they can constantly check the food supply, and they will maintain a private water well in operating condition. However, many people have a psychological block to or fear of living underground. I.e. regardless of the fact that the temperature can be regulated to be as comfortable underground as above-ground, the fact that fresh air can be brought in so that a person enjoys as much fresh air underground as aboveground, the spaciousness of underground quarters, and lighting techniques can light underground living quarters as well as quarters aboveground; yet many people, to a greater or lesser degree, suffer from fear of living underground. Therefore, if certain techniques can be used which are more psychlogical than real to eliminate this psychological block that people have to living underground, then the advantages of underground living are better available. There are other advantages to underground living besides protection from atomic radiation, such as security against burglars, tornados and other wind storms, hail storms, and in such a case the insurance rates are lower because it is exposed to fewer risks, and it is easier to regulate the temperature.

Because the main problems appear to be psychlogical, this does not mean that there are not physical problems to be dealt with also. For example, provisions must be made so that there are no undesirable odors or feeling of dampness or mustiness which would create discomfort to a person living underground all the time. In this regard, it has been found that the odors can be controlled better if the circulation is from the floor upward with the air being exhausted from the living are at the ceiling level.

An object of this invention is to provide an underground habitation.

Another object of this invention is to provide an underground habitation which eliminates or reduces any fear or resentment of being kept underground, i.e. dispels fear of living underground.

Another object is to provide a ventilating system for an underground habitation.

Still further objects are to achieve the above with a home and appliances which are sturdy, compact, durable, simple, versatile, and reliable, yet inexpensive and easy to manufacture and maintain.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects, uses, and advantages thereof will clearly appear from the following description and from the accompanying drawings, the different views of which are not necessarily to the same scale, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the underground entrance to the dwelling.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the underground dwelling.

FIG. 3 is a "sectional view taken approximately on line 33 of FIG. 2 of both the underground and aboveground structures.

, 3,227,061 Patented Jan. 4, 1966.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view looking through one of the windows to a mural painted on the wall.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on lines 55 of FIG. 4 of the window.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the window taken substantially on line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of the underground dwelling, primarily representing the ventilation system.

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of other mechanical equipment used in the house.

One aspect of this underground dwelling is that an im pression is created from the first and throughout of there being an outside of the house and inside of the house. This is accomplished by building a house within a shell.

Particularly referring to the drawings, it may be seen that there is an underground excavation with a retaining wall 10 of concrete or steel or other material preventing the soil or earth 12 from invading the area. For the main entrance, although one passes heavy steel doors 14 as one enters the area, one comes on an entrance area designated generally by the numeral 16. This is lighted and a person sees a simulated portion of a roof 18 and there is a front door 20 so that when a person opens the front door he has the impression of leaving the outside and entering the inside of a house. The windows 22 have murals 24 painted upon the wall 10 outside of the windows. The windows 22 are placed around places that they normally would be within an aboveground dwelling with glass, etc. on them. It is not necessary that the murals 24 be so perfect that they would deceive a person into thinking that they were actually looking from the inside of a building to the outside. The reason for this is that logically a person knows they are underground but logically a person also realizes that there is nothing to be afraid of in being underground i.e. no reason for fear of living underground. The purpose of the illusions is not to convince a person logically that they should not be underground but it is to create the psychological atmosphere that a person does not subconsciously resent or fear being underground. Therefore, it has been found that having windows which look out on the pastoral scenes helps to prevent this fear of living underground. Also, at the back of the house, the illusion is completed by having a patio 28 between the dwelling and the wall 10. There are also various doors 26 which enter from inside the dwelling to the patio 28. With the patio28 as with the front entrance 16, there is a portion showing the roof l3 simulated to give reassurance to a person that there is no reason for fear of living underground.

Gutside the house, such as the back patio 28 or the front entrance 16, has a different acoustics and this creates and heightens the illusion of being inside and outside of the house. The mere fact that the acoustics are different affects one of the five senses. The lighting is different, also the floor is different giving a different feel. Outside the floor is concrete such as one finds in outside areas, whereas, the floors inside are carpeted or other wise treated giving the inside feel, whereas the floors and the front entrance and the patio give the outside feel. There is no difference in odor inside and outside, of course, you are not tasting anything so there is no difference in taste, but there is a difference in seeing because the lighting is different and also you have the shingle roof line, etc.; the hearing is different because of different acoustical properties of the surrounding; the feel is different because of the floor coverings give you a different feel. Also there is a slight step from inside the house to outside the house.

Around all areas of the house, except the front entrance area 16 and the back patio 28, there is a space 30 between the wall 10 and the walls 32 of the house.

The floor 34 of this space 30 is a few inches lower than the floor of the dwelling. Therefore, this space 30 serves several different functions. For example, inasmuch as the floor 34 is lower than the floor 36 of the dwelling it acts as a storm sewer for the collection of excess water should there be any plurnbling leaks within the house. Also it serves as an insulation space between the dwelling and the earth 122;. It serves for air circulation so that with a certain adjustment of the ventilating systems as will be explained later, the window 22 may be opened and there is an outside breeze. This space also serves to provide depth between the windows 22 and the murals 24. It will be appreciable that the murals 24 have a better appearance of being outside if they are spaced away from the windows 22. It also serves as a plumbing clean-out area inasmuch as all plumbing and sewerage places have clean-outs leading into this space 30 between the Walls. Furthermore, it serves as a utility access area giving access to certain electrical and telephone wiring. In addition to the above, the space 30 serves as an extra storage space. It will be understood, that the underground area within the steel doors 14 is stocked with food and supplies for a large number of people for a long period of time. The space 30 offers a large volume of storage space whereby supplies be stored for a long period of time.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. and 6 which show the details of construction concerning the windows 22 and murals 24, it will be seen that a box is built around the windows 22. The back of the box is the wall 10. Expanded metal lathe 38 is attached to the wall and extends to the house wall 32 on a curve and plaster is placed on this expanded metal lathe 38 so that the murals 24 are painted thereon. Otherwise a person standing close to the window would see the storage space on either side of the mural and would have something of a trauma in being reminded that they were underground. Likewise, the top is closed by a plate 40 and the window at the bottom is covered by a perforated plate 42. The perforations are for the purpose of ad mitting air from the space 30 to the window 22 when it is desired to achieve the effect of the outside breeze. Below the top plate 40 are located four lamps of the gas variety. Lamp 44 is a lamp having white light, lamp 46 is a lamp having blue light. Lamp 48 gives blackwhite light, and lamp 50 is a lamp giving black or ultra-violet light. Therefore, the mural 24 may be painted with luminous paint representing the moon 52 and stars 54 as well as perhaps some topographic features such as sage 56. Therefore, if the lamps 44, 46, and 48 are turned out and only lamp 50 is turned on, it gives the illusion of being night with the moon 52 and stars 54 shining on certain predominant topographic features such as the sage 56. Then early in the morning the lamps 50 and 48, give the illusion of being early morning, while later the lamps 46 and 48 give the illusion of mid-morning, whereas, later on, lamps 44, 46, and 48 give the illusion of mid-day. In the evening, the order of the lamps may be reversed. Other special colors may be included, e.g. red. Each of the lamps is controlled by its respective switch, 58, 6t), 62, and 64 so that any one or more may be turned on and off by the operator. Likewise, the patio area 28 is lighted by a plurality of lamps of different colors as is the entrance area '16. These areas also can have murals painted depicting garden scenes or whatever the occupant desires. Planter boxes 65 are provided around the entrance way to increase the illustion of the outside. There are numerous plants which grow well with artificial lights, e.g. members of the ivy family.

Referring now more particularly to the ventilation of the dwelling, there are two main air intakes to the dwelling, one leading through regular filters 66 and the other leading through special filters 68. Whether the air is received into the dwelling by regular filters 66 or special filter 68 will be determined by the setting of valves '70. Since the filter as such are well known (including those that are adapted to filter out fine particles which would carry atomic radiation within the dwelling) they will not be further discussed here. Immediately below the valves '79 is a plenum 72 which also is connected to the ceiling space 74 by valve '76. The space between the ceiling '78 of the dwelling and the top of the shell defines this ceiling space '74 and this space acts as a returning air duct from within the dwelling. The air enters into this ceiling space 74 through a plurality of registers 82 located throughout the dwelling in the ceiling 78. The adjustment of the valve 76 and the valves 70 will determine how much of the air is re circulated through the dwelling and how much is brought from the outside. Immediately below the plenum 72 is a regular ventilation filter 84. Below the ventilation filter 84 are heat transfer coils 86. Inasmuch as heat transfer coils which both heat and cool the air are well-known to the art as well as the mechanism for providing the heated or cooled fluids circulating through them and the controls necessary to maintain the temperature of the air at any desired temperature, are well known, they will not be further described here.

Fan 88 is located immediately below the heat transfer coils 86 and moves the air through ducts 90 which are located beneath the floors 36 through the dwelling. Risers 92 connected floor registers 94 and space registers 96 to the ducts 90. The fioor registers 94 enter within the dwelling and each has valve 98 by which the amount of air may be reduced from the maximum. The space registers are always open and they connect the ducts 90 into the space 30. This provides ventilation of the space 30 and also if all of the valves 98 are closed or several of them are closed, then any time a window 22 is open, there is a flow of air from the space 30 into the dwelling through the window .22 producing an outside breeze. As stated before, a certain portion of the air enters registers 82 in the ceiling 78 and through the ceiling space '74 back through valve 76 and the plenum 72 and through the ventilation filter 84 and thus is re-circulated within the dwelling space. Another portion of the air passes through fireplace Hit? and out chimney 102 to outside the dwelling. The top of the shell 80 is about three feet below the surface of the ground and the chimney extends on through aboveground structure 103 some ten or twelve feet above the top of the ground. Therefore, there is ample draft through the chimney 102 and a large part of the air will flow through the chimney 102, thus always insuring a certain amount of outside air to be brought into the dwelling. This flow can also be controlled by a damper 194 in the chimney 102. In case of emergency such as a large number of people being within the dwelling during atomic fall-out, a panel valve 166 is provided between the ceiling space 74 and the chimney 102. By removing this panel valve 106, there will be a greatly increased flow of air from within the dwelling up the chimney lltlZ bringing of course, an increase of fresh air through the special filter 68. Normally, this panel valve 106 would be closed during any normal occupancy of the house, even with many people attending a party, there is no need to increase the ventilation so drastically.

The plumbing vents MP8 from the sanitary sewers also leave through the chimney 192 and are conducted up within the chimney until they are exhausted within the atmosphere. It will be noted that the chimney 102 has a horizontal run 110 so that there is not a direct straightline entrance into the dwelling in the event of atomic fallout. Copper tube 111 extends in the structure 1% and is connected to the steel ceiling beams. This makes radio reception possible within the house without other exterior antenna. Also the chimney 1 92 is covered in normal use by a flat plate H2 over the Opening of the chimney spaced about six inches above it. All sanitary sewers empty into one of two tanks 114 after which they are emptied by pumps 116. Such sewage handling tanks and pumps are well known and need not be discussed further. As mentioned before, the space 30 drains into the sewer pit wherein is located sewage tanks 114 so that any excess moisture can be removed readily.

The pump 116 and all the equipment in the house including the heating and ventilating systems are operated electrically. Internal combustion engine 120 operates generator 122 to provide emergency power in case the external electrical power source fails. The engine 120 is supplied by fuel contained within underground fuel tank 124 outside the dwelling. The engine 12% receives its air intake from within the dwelling space; however, its exhaust is connected through pipe 126 to aboveground. Two wells are provided: intake well 12.8 and exhaust well 130. The intake well 123 provides water for pressure storage tank 132.. The exhaust well 130 provides for exhaust for the water from the engine 120 as well as exhaust for the water used in the operation of the air-conditioning mechanism which supplies treated fluid for heat transfer coils 86. Suitable pumps are provided to pump the water from the instake well 123 whereas the exhaust well is not cluttered with pipes so that in cases of an extreme emergency, water may be drawn by rope and bucket from the exhaust well 130.

An aboveground structure 13-4 provides an aboveground ent-rance to the dwelling. This aboveground structure 134 includes a storage garage for keeping the automobiles of the dwellers as well as gardening tools, etc. Also, it provides a psychological effect so that the person enters into an aboveground structure and from this aboveground structure he walks down broad-staircase 136 past steel doors 14 into the entrance area 16. By providing such an entrance, I have found that psychologically a person does not have so much of an undersided feeling of going underground that is experienced by other types of entrances, thus combating fear of living underground. As may be seen in the drawing, the staircase is not straight so that there is not an entrance for radiation. Likewise, it will be seen that the only entrance is provided through the steel doors 14 which gives security at normal times from prowlers. Likewise, if the aboveg-round structure 134 is located over the underground structure the roof of the structure 134 has gutters 138 and drains so that radioactive particles may be washed away by rain in gutters 138 and conducted through the drains to the regular sewer system.

It will be apparent that the embodiments shown are only exemplary and that various modifications can be made in construction, materials, and arrangement within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

1 claim as my invention:

An underground building designed to aid in easing the fear of being underground comprising in combination, a house whose walls are completely beneath the earths surface with a dirt retaining wall spaced from the vertical walls of said house, one house wall being constructed to resemble the exterior of a housing including, a shingled root on top of the house wall, a front door in said wall and boxes containing living plants in the underground surface area, an aboveground entrance structure having a stairway leading therefrom to said door, an operable window in at least one house wall, a horizontally disposed frarne secured to the outside of said window and extending to said retaining wall, a plurality of lamps secured to the underside of the top frame piece which in operation act to simulate daylight and darkness at said window, heating means for heating the dwelling and air ventilating means providing filtered air directly to the inside of the dwelling and from the outside thereof through the window frame and window, the latter creating the illusion of a breeze.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,196,423 4/1940 Musaphia 272-8 2,492,969 1/1950 Crane 272-15 2,565,553 8/1951 Foley 161-17 2,653,468 9/1953 Rowles 52-66 2,680,354 6/1954 GygaX 98-1 2,815,951 12/1957 Baldanza 272-17 2,878,665 3/1959 Crabbe 52-169 2,977,723 4/1961 Rudinger 52-169 3,074,080 1/1963 Previti 109-1 X 3,103,154 9/1963 Rosenfeld 98-1 3,118,401 1/1964 Platt 109-1 2,124,053 3/1964 Zahn et al 98-1 3,180,978 4/1965 Mas 240-9 OTHER REFERENCES Cosmopolitan Publication, January 1954, pages 8691. Popular Mechanics, May 1941, pages 648-651. Popular Science Publication, March 1954, page 171.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Examiner.

K. E. PAYNE, L. R. RADANOVIC,

Assistant Examiners. 

